Leafleting

October 29, 2009

As Casey mentioned in his last post, birthdays can be a perfect time to get active for farm animals. It’s your day; you get to call the shots. That means, you can tell mom and dad that rather than that Wii Tetris game, you’d prefer if they gave you the gift of compassion; that is, to go vegan for a month (or whatever amount of days you decide). You could also ask your friends and family to donate money to your favorite organization (which of course is Farm Sanctuary, so donate here and thank you very much); or simply request a vegan birthday cake.

Tomorrow is my 30th birthday. In 1979, the year I was born, the USDA reported 4,044,336,000 chickens were killed for food in the United States. As of 2008, that number rose to 9,069,382,000 chickens. That’s an increase of 124%! Because of that completely mind-blowing number, I’m asking that on my 30th birthday, you do 30 things for farm animals. Leaflet for 30 minutes (I’ll send you the materials), or send a mass e-mail to 30 of your closest friends showing them the truth behind turkey production and how to have a compassionate Thanksgiving.

With birthday activism, the sky is the limit – so have your vegan cake and eat it too.

October 13, 2009

As the days grow shorter and the leafy hills around Farm Sanctuary's national headquarters in Watkins Glen reach the height of their autumn glory, I am busily preparing for my favorite holiday, Halloween. There’s a special kind of magic that’s brewed when you stir together the bounty of the harvest season with an evening of costumed revelry and tales of haunting ghosts. It is the one night of the year when adults are most encouraged to use their imaginations and return to the make-believe of childhood. But Halloween's magic can lend itself to more than brief and simple fun. With a little creativity, you can use it to cast a spell of compassion that changes and saves lives.

This year, I have resolved that I'll not only prepare my costume before the 11th hour, but that I will also use its power for the good of farm animals. My friends and I will be setting up a table in downtown Ithaca, just an hour's drive from the Sanctuary, and distributing literature along with some of our favorite vegan Halloween treats. I shall be appearing as Frankenstein's monster - did you know he was veg*n (vegan or vegetarian), just like his real life creator, Mary Shelley? Under a banner that reads "Even monsters can be kind," we'll be raising awareness in our local community about the all-too-real horrors of factory farming. Be sure to stop by if you're in the area!

Many of my colleagues in New York City will be summoning their own Halloween spirit by leafleting in Times Square on October 28 and throwing a serious Farm Sanctuary monster mash the following night. Frankapalooza will have Greenwich Village rockin' out for farm animals once again, as three outstanding bands take to the stage at Kenny's Castaways. See our ACT events calendar for more details.

If your broom can't make it to the Village, there's no need to worry - unless you hear creepy violin music coming from out of nowhere. I hereby call on you to make something happen in your own sleepy hollow; our Halloween Outreach Guide offers some wicked tips and suggestions to inspire you.

Want to kick things up another notch on the ACTivist scale? Consider swapping out the usual Halloween movie fare for a screening of Earthlings. One of the most comprehensive animal rights documentaries ever made, Earthlings is a powerful expose of the abuse that animals suffer every day at human hands. Your guests will find it far more disturbing than any Nightmare on Elmstreet, and there's no way to walk away from it comforted by the thought that it was "just a movie." The only respite from the awful truth of animal cruelty lies in taking action to build a more compassionate world. And fortunately for those newly awakened to the suffering of animals, taking action is what we do best.

May 11, 2009

Last week, I held my monthly NYC activist meeting. Farm animal advocates from all different walks of life gathered in lower Manhattan for a 50-minute meeting that covered how to get further involved with farm animal advocacy. We talked about everything from writing letters to the editor regarding the connections between filthy living conditions of pigs and the Swine Flu; taking action on the new anti-confinement bill in New York State; and our national efforts that took place this past weekend in honor of Mother’s Day. These meetings have brought a real sense of activist community and camaraderie to New York City, and we always look forward to them. Part II of the meeting occurred when we relocated further downtown, in the basement of Lolita Bar, where a debate took place asking: Should Humans Radically Decrease Their Exploitation of Animals? At the end of the debate, a vote was taken and the answer was a resounding yes, humans should radically decrease their exploitation of animals.

Arguing in favor of the question was lawyer Mariann Sullivan, and arguing against was freelance writer Justin Shubow. Sullivan (who, in the interest of full disclosure, is my other – better – half) was clear and articulate, sticking to the topic-at-hand, and trying her best to answer such inane questions as: “do you think ant farms are cruel?” before moving on to more relevant issues (environmental devastation,world hunger, and of course, hideous animal cruelty). Shubow had little to stand on, and managed to tick off many people in the room by his assertions that vegetarians are mainly women because women are overly-emotional and react without much thought. He also stated false and naive claims that many vegetarians are anemic (not true), the only way for a man to be a healthy vegan is by eating beans all day (as if), vegans are so deprived of nutrients and taste that they may suffer from Pica, a condition that leaves you craving dirt (the only “dirt” I crave is the occasional good gossip), and chickens don’t suffer (decide for yourself).

Anyway, the whole debate got me to thinking about effective advocacy and the value of speaking up for farm animals. I left with two very different conclusions:

1. Don’t waste your time on people who find it fun to bully you. 2. Even when you don’t see it immediately, your advocacy is seeping into these people on some level, and you are planting a seed.

At last night’s activist meeting, my North Carolina friend, Eleni Vlachos, who recently made an animal rights documentary called Seeing through the Fence, talked about her experiences traveling throughout the country with her film and leafleting with farm animal materials on campuses. Eleni, who was only in NYC for a few days, sent me an email earlier, and gave me permission to quote it in Making Hay:

“Yesterday while leafleting at the University of Delaware, one tall athletic man stormed by me and said, ‘I HATE you! I HATE you!’ While not nice, he can't possibly know me, and really hates the idea that he's participating in something cruel. If he and I actually spoke, he wouldn't say that to me. It's similar I think in other types of confrontations. People can come across as callous and uncaring, and many are to some extent, but there is a soft cushy spot in there that can be worked out most of the time.”

As far as communication tactics go, Eleni is a pro (this was evidenced in her film). That goes to point two of what I said above: even when we don’t realize it, we are planting seeds. Last night’s debate attracted some real bullies, including one who went up to Sullivan afterward and mocked the idea that some “helpless chickens” are going to change his mind. We were on our way out by then, but Eleni stuck around and tried her best to communicate with him on a rational, unemotional level (strange she could pull that off, being a woman and all). She told me later that he admitted he would rather animals do not suffer. “After people shed their defenses,” Eleni told me, “it's amazing to see their relative receptivity.”

Good communication is key when you are trying to advocate for farm animals. In many ways, we have to rise above the occasional mean person who yells nasty things at us. The truth is, for all of those people, there are 20 or 30 others who are actually getting it. Outreach is a numbers game, just like sales. If you’re leafleting, for example, there will always be people who throw out the leaflet immediately after you hand it to them, but there will be several others who will read it, and even pass it on to others. In some way, the people who ignore you or who throw out the leaflet are actually helping you weed through the riff-raff so that you can hand that leaflet over to that receptive person who you will undoubtedly reach. Every single time you leaflet, you reach someone.

Still, regarding point one above, there are times when it is best to move on to the next guy. Why spend an hour arguing with someone who is only trying to provoke you, when you could be reaching hundreds of others in that time? When advocating for farm animals, know your limits, and learn how to gauge when enough is enough.

That’s not to say that there aren’t times when it is totally warranted to speak out, to push people beyond their comfort levels (just as they are doing to you), and to exercise your First Amendment rights. There are. But my advice is to keep your eye on the big picture and to spend the majority of your energy changing hearts and minds, leading through example, and being the change you wish to see in the world.

Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry ... read more.

Making Hay with Gene Baur features personal blogs from Farm Sanctuary President & Co-founder Gene Baur, as well as other entries focused on Farm Sanctuary’s advocacy efforts and the multiple ways that you can get involved and make a difference for farm animals.

Gene grew up in Hollywood, California and worked in commercials for McDonald's and other fast food restaurants. He adopted a vegan lifestyle in 1985, and today, he campaigns to raise awareness about the negative consequences of industrialized factory farming and our cheap food system. He lives in Washington, DC and is the co-founder and president of Farm Sanctuary. Read more.